Elizabeth Vargas Says Hiding Alcohol Problems Was 'Exhausting'

January 25, 2014 (3:01 am) GMT

In an interview with 'Good Morning America', the ABC news anchor also admits that she is an alcoholic, saying, 'It took me a long time to admit that to myself.'

ABC news anchor Elizabeth Vargas, who checked herself into rehab in late 2013 because of alcoholism, has made an appearance on TV post-rehab. In a taped interview with "Good Morning America", the news anchor talked about admitting to herself that she was an alcoholic and needed help.

"I am. I am an alcoholic. It took me a long time to admit that to myself. It took me a long time to admit it to my family, but I am," she told George Stephanopoulos during the interview, aired on Friday, January 24. "The amount of energy I expended keeping that secret and keeping this problem hidden from view was exhausting."

"I started thinking 'Well, you know, I'll only drink, you know, on weekends. I'll only drink, you know, two glasses of wine a night. I won't drink on nights before I have to get up and do 'Good Morning America'.' But those deals never work," she shared with a laugh.

Vargas additionally said that her favorite choice was wine. Calling her drinking session "ritual," the mother of two continued, "I should've realized it was a problem way back when Zachary, my oldest son, was born. And he used to call my nightly glass of wine 'mommy's juice.' You know, and I thought that was hysterical. It didn't occur to me that that was a problem."

Her husband Marc Cohn previously told her to seek treatment. " 'You have a problem. You're an alcoholic.' It made me really angry, really angry. But he was right," Vargas added, recalling a conversation with Cohn. The 51-year-old journalist realized that she needed help after she was "in no shape" to do interview one day.

Vargas announced in early November that she had checked herself into rehab for alcohol addiction. She completed her treatment later that month and will be back to "20/20" starting from Friday.